A Study Of African American Folklore In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston is considered one of the preeminent and prolific writers of twentieth-century African American literature.Nevertheless,Hurston's writings suffered from bitter criticism initially,then slid into obscurity for decades,because of the authentic yet controversial representation of African American folklore and the lack of exposure of the racial discrimination problem in her works.In the late 1960 s,with the intense interest in African American and women's studies,Hurston's works began to receive a revival of considerable attention.Contemporary critics celebrate the integration of black folk culture in her novels,which precisely demonstrates Hurston's subtle concern on the racial oppression.As the most famous and best novel of Hurston,Their Eyes Were Watching God looks at black life on its own vernacular language,with an eye to its beauty and vitality.The novel combines two central themes from Hurston's life: her search for independence and fulfillment and her love for black folk culture.African American folklore is a thematic element,as well as a component of the theme of Janie's search for identity and self-determination as a black and as a woman.Hurston interwove a number of categories of African American folklore in the novel,among which African American folktale,African American porch and jook culture,African American Hoodoo and Christian beliefs are going to be discussed at large in this thesis.In order to help alleviate plight and dilemma of the black race,in Their Eyes Were Watching God,Hurston devoted herself to exploring the more dangerous kind of racism that infected the black culture.Given the problem that how the whites view the blacks,that is,the stereotyped negro images,Hurston committed herself to constructing New Negro images by shaping a bunch of lively and positive black characters living in their folk culture.Considering the problem that how the blacks identify themselves in American society,that is,the black cultural identity crisis,Hurston intended to reconstruct black cultural identity and arouse the collective cultural consciousness of the black race through an analysis and utilization of black folk culture in the novel,so that they would preserve and internalize their folk culture,and position themselves in a right way in the society.